1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a system and a method for delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content (e.g. a motion picture or television program) to a Subscriber's (e.g. a consumer who purchases Content) location and storage of the High Definition Content. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method of high performance delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content to multiple locations, which locations are designated by the ultimate Subscriber.
2. Description of the Related Art
For over thirty years, the Subscriber marketplace for the residential consumption of long-form audio-visual Content has been robust. This sort of Content distribution, where discrete Content or groups of Content are acquired by the Subscriber for perpetual (e.g., purchase, sell-through) or limited (e.g., rental) viewing, allows the Subscriber to own or rent Content for a period of time, controlling the viewing of it as he or she desires.
This ability for the Subscriber to control viewed Content is different than streaming services introduced thirty years earlier, first as broadcast television and then expanded in the form of source providers (i.e., “linear channels”) via cable, satellite and other real-time means. With Subscriber ownership or rental, Content and viewing times are determined by the Subscriber, not the source provider. This Subscriber ownership convenience is the foundation of the packaged media sell-through industry, coupled with the Subscriber's ability to view or use the Content multiple times without further cost.
Based on industry data, Subscribers continue to desire to “purchase” audio-visual Content. This is in spite of the availability of very low cost fees (˜$1.00/day) for the “rental” of Content.
In the mid-1990s, video on demand (“VOD”) was introduced, providing audio-visual Content and associated data to the homes connected to a particular network. VOD services are now available in all parts of the world. The United States has the highest global take-up rates of VOD.
The distribution of audio-visual Content today is essentially all digital, whether it be packaged media or via electronic means. The large distribution of a single signal makes streaming VOD impractical for most satellite TV. Satellite TV may offer VOD Content to its Subscribers through a service that downloads the Content to a Subscriber's digital video recorder via non-satellite means, e.g. through the Internet, so that the Subscriber can watch, play, pause, and seek at their convenience. Cable operators' offer of VOD, and digital video recorders, such as TIVO, have taught the Subscriber that the convenience of packaged media can be enjoyed without the time and effort of shopping in physical retail stores to acquire the Content carrier (e.g. a DVD).
Streaming VOD systems, e.g. Netflix, are available on desktop and mobile platforms. However, there are limitations with this approach.
The “remote-control, on-demand” culture is almost half of all residential viewing and is beginning to dominate and materially alter viewing habits even of linear channels (LA Times Feb. 14, 2013, “FOLLOWERS watch on own time”). Convenience of choice and time is driving this behavior. However, the desire to “purchase” Content has not yet surfaced significantly in the digital delivery industry. Thus, packaged media continues to be the choice for Subscribers to “purchase” long form audio-visual Content (Variety, Jan. 31, 2013 “Discs still dominate homevid”).
Even though the Content industry (the six major motion picture studios and several independent producers and distributors) has licensed many digital distribution companies that offer all current business models of “sell-through”, “rental” and “subscription”, sell-through still lags far behind what packaged media purchases would suggest. Indeed, whenever a new sell-through offering is announced there is significant Subscriber uptake (Variety, Febuary 15 “Sony CEO: Bust windows”) that quickly fizzles. The widely observed behavior of Subscribers that have embraced “on-demand” viewing and the continued robust packaged media sales suggests that there is a fundamental flaw in the current way to offer Subscribers digital delivery of “sell-through” audio-visual Content.
Storage of audio-visual Content in the home, just as optical media, such as the DVD, is now stored, assures the Subscriber that access to his or her sell-through Content is never in doubt. However the digital storage of downloaded audio-visual Content or “large objects” ranging in size from 1-10 GB of data, in the residential setting, is problematic. Costs are high, and the method to overcome the inevitable failure of technology, such as arrays of redundant hard drives, has heretofore appeared not practical.
Subscriber use of the Internet to access remote storage for digital Content files (“large objects”) has become popular and has recently been marketed under the euphemism of the “cloud” by companies such as iTunes. However, the Internet cannot be relied upon to service the “main room” viewing experience for VOD premium High Definition audio-visual Content without very high cost access fees (currently $70 to $150/month). This pricing model is likely to increase, not decrease. Indeed, it is generally believed that High Definition audio-visual, on-demand performance that would visually compete with the current two leaders in premium sell-through, Blu-Ray optical disc and iTunes (the latter using “progressive download” that results in significant wait times, for example 5 minutes or more, rather than instantaneous viewing, e.g. within seconds and less than one minute) is only extant in 10% of US households to enable immediate play.
Contention based networks, such as the Internet, are very cumbersome and costly to engineer to guarantee performance for audio-visual Content streaming. It is a fundamental characteristic of the various contention network technologies such as terminal control protocol/internet protocol (“TCP/IP”), Ethernet, and the like. A good example is the recent difficulty of HBO GO Subscribers had to access Game of Thrones (Variety, 6 Apr. 2014). Thus, if storage in the home is not practical, and storage off premises, while practical, cannot be satisfactorily accessed using contention based network technology, as demonstrated by the Internet, there is a need for a solution to this problem.